Tuesday, October 23, 2012

Student on Education Reform

When I first started this blog, I brought up an interview that Nikhil Goyal gave to Fox News on education policy. You can read those posts here and here. I haven't done a ton of research on him and his views, but what I have read and heard has been more refreshing than the typical garbage spouted by education reformers.

Here are some highlights:

Politicians and media have listened to every person involved in education except the students. (I would argue that teachers are in the same group.)

Michelle Rhee's Students First group does not have any students.

Education needs to be student-centered (not in the way Jeb Bush states).

Testing and drill-and-kill are damaging education more than helping it.

Schools must embrace student creativity.

Talks about the creativity and highlight's Google's unique approach to it (with its 20% rule).

"How can we make school the best hours of the students' day?"

It's interesting how this 15-minute speech does not include any discussion about tenure, test scores, accountability, etc. What refreshing insight, especially from a student!